Coupling structure for board assembly

ABSTRACT

The present subject matter discloses a board coupling structure with a first board and a second board. The first board and the second board are respectively formed with strip-shaped ribs and strip-shaped grooves that can be interlocked with each other. The first board and the second board can only move relative to each other in the inserting direction. The strip-shaped rib has a constricted portion and a clamping portion. The advantage of the present subject matter is that the contact surface and biting degree of the connected boards are larger. The coupling structure is stable with improved waterproofing of the connection. Moreover, the boards do not need to be connected by connectors during assembling, which renders a fast and convenient assembly.

CROSS-REFERENCES TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application claims the priority of CN patent application No.CN202111219616.4, entitled “COUPLING STRUCTURE FOR BOARD ASSEMBLY,”filed Oct. 20, 2021, which is incorporated herein by reference for allpurposes.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present subject matter is in the field of board construction. Moreparticularly, embodiments of the present subject matter relate to ascrew-free, plug-in connection structure for plastic boards.

BACKGROUND

Many of the existing furniture are constructed by assembling multipleboards. In the assembly process of these furniture, screws are oftenrequired to connect and fix the boards, which is troublesome to install.For example, take the cabinet structure as an example: when assemblingthe cabinet, people often need to use a screw driver to install and fixthe screws and other connectors on the bottom board, four side boardsand cover board, so that the bottom board, side board and cover boardcan be put together. The process is not only time-consuming andlaborious but also has low efficiency.

In addition, when disassembling the cabinet, the screws must be removedone by one, which is also inconvenient. Moreover, when screws areneeded, it is often necessary to reserve mounting holes on the boardswhen manufacturing them. For precise assembly, the position of thesereserved mounting holes must be accurate. Otherwise, it would causeinstallation failure.

Even more, some cabinets are equipped with embedded connectors in thereserved mounting holes. These embedded parts are often manuallyinstalled, resulting in low efficiency. Although the prior art hasdisclosed the plug-in structure with improved efficiency, the bite ofthese plug-in structures is low, and the structural reliability andstability need to be further improved. In addition, the contact area ofthe joint is not large enough, resulting in poor waterproof ability. Insummary, the existing board connection structure needs to be furtherimproved.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present subject matter can solve the technical problem as describedherein by providing a board coupling structure with a reliable structureand optimized stability in view of the present state of the art.

The technical solution of the present subject matter to solve theafore-mentioned technical problems is: a board coupling structure thatcomprises a first board and a second board each being respectivelyformed with a strip-shaped rib and a strip-shaped groove that can beinserted into each other, the first board and the second board beingonly movable relative to each other in the insertion direction, whereinthe strip-shaped rib further comprises a constricted portion formed by acircumferential side of the first board and a clamping portion thatextends from the constricted portion, and wherein the strip-shapedgroove is provided in the inner side wall of the second board, and theshape of the strip-shaped groove matches the shape of the strip-shapedrib.

In order to enable the first board and the second board to be insertedin place, one end of the strip-shaped groove is formed with an opening,and the other end is closed.

According to some embodiments, the strip-shaped groove is disposed nearan edge of the second board and is disposed along the length directionof the edge. As such, the first board and the second board can enablethe mutual coupling and connection of the corresponding sides

According to some embodiments, the first board and the second board areperpendicular to each other when they are coupled. As such, theabove-mentioned screwless, plug-in coupling structure can be usedbetween two adjacent boards of a rectangular box.

According to some embodiments, the constricted portion and thecircumferential side are perpendicular to each other, and the innersurface of the clamping portion and the constricted portion areperpendicular to each other.

According to some embodiments, the clamping portion further comprises atapered head that is substantially pointed or flat.

According to some embodiments, the cross-section of the clamping portionis triangular.

According to some embodiments, the outer surface of the clamping portionis an arc surface.

According to some embodiments, the outer surface of the clamping portionis a concave-convex surface.

According to some embodiments, the concave-convex surface has astructure with convex on both sides and a concave in the middle or astructure with convex in the middle and concave on both sides.

Compared with the prior art, the present subject matter has thefollowing advantages: the plug-in coupling structure of the two boardscan adopt an insertion structure with a strip-shaped rib and astrip-shaped groove, and the strip-shaped rib comprises a constrictedpart and a clamping part. The clamping part gradually becomes smallerfrom the inside to the outside. As such, the contact surface of the riband the groove is larger, which leads to larger biting degree and morestabilized structure. Furthermore, the coupled boards can be waterproof,and they do not need connectors during assembly. The assembly isconvenient and fast. In addition, the board coupling structure has awide range of applications, especially for the connection between twoadjacent sideboards of the cabinet.

Other aspects and advantages of the present subject matter will becomeapparent from the following detailed description taken in conjunctionwith the accompanying drawings, which illustrate, by way of example, theprinciples of the present subject matter.

DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

The present subject matter is illustrated by way of example, and not byway of limitation, in the figures of the accompanying drawings and inwhich:

FIG. 1 is a schematic structural diagram of Embodiment I the presentsubject matter;

FIG. 2 is an enlarged schematic diagram of part A in FIG. 1 ;

FIG. 3 is an exploded schematic diagram of Embodiment I of the presentsubject matter;

FIG. 4 is an enlarged schematic diagram of part B in FIG. 3 ;

FIG. 5 is an enlarged schematic diagram of part C in FIG. 3 ;

FIG. 6 is a schematic structural diagram of Embodiment I of the presentsubject matter;

FIG. 7 is an enlarged schematic diagram of part D in FIG. 6 ;

FIG. 8 is a schematic structural diagram of Embodiment II of the presentsubject matter;

FIG. 9 is an enlarged schematic diagram of part E in FIG. 8 ;

FIG. 10 is a schematic structural diagram of Embodiment III of thepresent subject matter;

FIG. 11 is an exploded schematic diagram of Embodiment III of thepresent subject matter;

FIG. 12 is a schematic structural diagram of Embodiment IV of thepresent subject matter;

FIG. 13 is a schematic structural diagram of Embodiment IV of thepresent subject matter; and

FIG. 14 is a schematic structural diagram of Embodiment IV of thepresent subject matter.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The present subject matter pertains to improved approaches for ascrew-free and highly stable coupling structure between adjacent boards.Embodiments of the present subject matter are discussed below withreference to FIGS. 1-14 .

In the following description, for purposes of explanation, numerousspecific details are set forth in order to provide a thoroughunderstanding of the present subject matter. It will be apparent,however, to one skilled in the art that the present subject matter maybe practiced without some of these specific details. In addition, thefollowing description provides examples, and the accompanying drawingsshow various examples for the purposes of illustration. Moreover, theseexamples should not be construed in a limiting sense as they are merelyintended to provide examples of embodiments of the subject matter ratherthan to provide an exhaustive list of all possible implementations. Inother instances, well-known structures and devices are shown in blockdiagram form in order to avoid obscuring the details of the disclosedfeatures of various described embodiments.

Embodiment I

As shown in FIGS. 1 to 7 , the board coupling structure of thisembodiment can comprise a first board 1 and a second board 2 that can beinserted and interlocked into each other. The first board 1 and thesecond board 2 can be rectangle or square boards. When they are coupled,the first board 1 and the second board 2 can be perpendicular to eachother. According to some embodiments, the first board 1 and the secondboard 2 can be respectively formed with at least one strip-shaped rib 11and at least one strip-shaped groove 21 that can be inserted or plug-ininto each other, so that the first board 1 and the second board 2 canonly move in the insertion direction. The strip-shaped rib 11 of thisembodiment can be disposed on one of the circumferential side surfaces12 of the first board 1, whereas the strip-shaped groove 21 can bedisposed on the inner side wall of the second board 2 and near an edgeof the second board (2) along the length direction of the edge.According to some embodiments, the shape of the strip-shaped groove 21can be adapted to the strip rib 11, with one end of the strip groove 21forming an opening, and the other end being closed. As such, it canfacilitate the insertion of the first board 1 and the second board 2 toform the coupling structure.

In this embodiment, the strip-shaped rib 11 can have a constrictedportion 111 and a clamping portion 112. The circumferential side surface12 of the first board 1 can extend outward to form a constricted portion111, and the constricted portion 111 and the circumferential sidesurface 12 can be perpendicular to each other. The constricted portion111 can continue to extend outward to form a clamping portion 112. Theinner surface of the clamping portion 112 and the constricted portion111 can be perpendicular to each other, and the clamping portion 112 cangradually become smaller from the inside to the outside.

According to some embodiments, the clamping portion 112 can adoptvarious different shapes. For example, the cross-section of the clampingportion of this embodiment can be tapered. As shown in FIGS. 1 to 5 ,the tapered head is flat, which is a flat head structure. As shown inFIGS. 6 and 7 , the tapered head is pointed, which is a pointedstructure.

As the clamping part 112 adopts a tapered structure, the contact areabetween the strip-shaped rib 11 and the strip-shaped groove 21 of thepresent subject matter is larger than the conventional T-shaped groovestructure. As such, the increased contact area can improve the stabilityof the coupling structure. Furthermore, it can also be beneficial toimprove the waterproof performance of the two connected boards.

In this embodiment, the first board 1 can be the bottom board of thecabinet, and the second board 2 can be the side board of the cabinet.When interlocking with each other, the first board 1 can be horizontallyplaced, and then the second board 2 can be placed in a verticalposition. A user can backwardly insert the stripe-shaped rib 11 from theopen end of the stripe-shaped groove 21 until the rear end of thestripe-shaped rib 11 and the closed end of the stripe-shaped groove 21abut, thereby completing the coupling of the first board 1 and thesecond board 2.

According to some embodiments, the board coupling structure can also beapplied to the connection or joint between other adjacent boards of thecabinet. For example, the first board 1 can be the right side board ofthe cabinet and the second board 2 can be the front side board of thecabinet, which can be interlocked with each other. By eliminating theneed of any connection accessories, the present coupling structure canbe convenient and quick. Correspondingly, the disassembly can beconvenient as the coupling structure is screw-free. In addition, thecoupling structure can be adopted between other boards or panels, suchas the left side board and the front side board, the left side board andthe rear side board.

Embodiment II

As shown in FIGS. 8 and 9 , in this embodiment, the outer side surfaceof the clamping portion 112 can be an arc-shaped surface 113. As theremaining structure can be substantially the same as that of EmbodimentI, Embodiment II is not further described in detail.

Embodiment III

As shown in FIG. 10 and FIG. 11 , the cross-section of the clampingportion 112 of this embodiment can be triangular. As the remainingstructure can be substantially the same as that of Embodiment I,Embodiment III is not further described in detail.

Embodiment IV

As shown in FIGS. 12 to 13 , the outer side surface of the clampingportion 112 of the present embodiment can be a concave-convex surface114. Specifically, the concave-convex surface 114 can adopt a structurein which both sides are convex and the middle is concave. After adoptingthe above-mentioned concave-convex structure, the contact area betweenthe strip-shaped rib 11 and the strip-shaped groove 21 can also beincreased. Similarly, on the one hand, the biting degree can be improvedso that the coupling structure can be more stable and reliable. On theother hand, with the increased contact area, it is also beneficial toimprove the waterproof performance of the connected boards.

As shown in FIG. 14 , the concave-convex surface 114 of the outer sidesurface of the clamping portion 112 of this embodiment can have astructure with a convex in the middle and a concave on both sides,similar to the description above.

The above are only the preferred embodiments of the present subjectmatter. It should be pointed out that for those of ordinary skill in theart, without departing from the principle of the present subject matter,various modifications or improvements can be made to the present subjectmatter, such as in other applications. For example, the first board andthe second board may not be perpendicular to each other, and thespecific shape of the clamping portion is not limited to the disclosedshapes, and these are all considered to be within the protection scopeof the present subject matter.

It is to be understood that even though numerous characteristics andadvantages of various embodiments of the present subject matter havebeen set forth in the foregoing description, together with details ofthe structure and function of various embodiments of the subject matter,this disclosure is illustrative only. In some cases, certainsubassemblies are only described in detail with one such embodiment.Nevertheless, it is recognized and intended that such subassemblies maybe used in other embodiments of the subject matter. Practitionersskilled in the art will recognize many modifications and variations.Changes may be made in detail, especially matters of structure andmanagement of parts within the principles of the embodiments of thepresent subject matter to the full extent indicated by the broad generalmeaning of the terms in which the appended claims are expressed.

Having disclosed exemplary embodiments and the best mode, modificationsand variations may be made to the disclosed embodiments while remainingwithin the scope of the embodiments of the subject matter as defined bythe following claims.

What is claimed is:
 1. A board coupling structure, comprising: a firstboard (1) and a second board (2) each being respectively formed with astrip-shaped rib (11) and a strip-shaped groove (21) that can beinserted into each other, the first board (1) and the second board (2)being only movable relative to each other in the insertion direction,wherein the strip-shaped rib (11) further comprises a constrictedportion (111) formed by a circumferential side (12) of the first board(1) and a clamping portion (112) that extends from the constrictedportion (111), and wherein the strip-shaped groove (21) is provided inthe inner side wall of the second board (2), and the shape of thestrip-shaped groove (21) matches the shape of the strip-shaped rib (11).2. The board coupling structure of claim 1, wherein one end of thestrip-shaped groove (21) is open and the other end of the strip-shapedgroove (21) is closed.
 3. The board coupling structure of claim 1,wherein the strip-shaped groove (21) is disposed near an edge of thesecond board (2) and is disposed along the length direction of the edge.4. The board coupling structure of claim 1, wherein the first board (1)and the second board (2) are perpendicular to each other when they arecoupled.
 5. The board coupling structure of claim 1, wherein theconstricted portion (111) and the circumferential side (12) areperpendicular to each other, and the inner surface of the clampingportion (112) and the constricted portion (111) are perpendicular toeach other.
 6. The board coupling structure of claim 1, wherein theclamping portion (112) further comprises a tapered head that issubstantially pointed or flat.
 7. The board coupling structure of claim1, wherein the cross-section of the clamping portion (112) istriangular.
 8. The board coupling structure of claim 1, wherein theouter surface of the clamping portion (112) is an arc surface (113). 9.The board coupling structure of claim 1, wherein the outer surface ofthe clamping portion (112) is a concave-convex surface (114).
 10. Theboard coupling structure of claim 9, wherein the concave-convex surface(114) has a structure with convex on both sides and a concave in themiddle or a structure with convex in the middle and concave on bothsides.